Spartan Cross Country Sweeps Jeff Drenth Memorial to Begin the 2019 Season

Results - Men | Women

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Michigan State men's and women's cross country began their 2019 campaigns on Friday morning at the 34^th annual Jeff Drenth Memorial race, hosted by Central Michigan.

On a sunny morning, the Spartans swept the Jeff Drenth Memorial race, on the men's and women's side. Both teams ended the meet with 25 points each in the 5k on Pleasant Hills Golf Course.

The race was highlighted by a strong team effort, with younger runners having the opportunity to compete in the opening race, many of whom are beginning their collegiate campaigns this season.

"I start to learn about their decision-making and how they operate for most of us; it's just an orientation," Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Walt Drenth said. "They're starting to see what our expectations are, and we want to see how they're going to behave within the team. I was happy with what we saw from the younger players. We've got some competitive players, and some people with gifts that have a long ways to go right now."

The Spartan women raced to a first-place finish with 25 points, led by Makayla Perez, who clocked in at 17:34.73. Perez led the pack for over half of the race, out-running all 66 other runners, by over 20 seconds. The next Spartan across the line was Claire Kendell, who crossed the finish line at 17:53.53, to finish second overall. The next pack of runners had five MSU runners, who all finished in under 19 minutes.

"I think the group effort when you see us on the course and you see people get strung out, it's a lot harder to manage yourself and feel like you're gaining momentum when you're on your own," Drenth said. "But when you're shoulder-to-shoulder with a couple of people, I think you really start to feel a different kind of energy. Then you create a purpose. The other thing we talk about a lot is to solve problems by helping someone. When you get to a teammate, now you're trying to help them and vice versa."

The men's race was tightly contested with the first pack of runners being all Central Michigan and Michigan State athletes. CMU ran out to an early lead at the beginning of the race, with the Spartan runners following close behind.

John Petruno turned in the top time for MSU at 15:23.94, placing fifth overall. Petruno battled throughout and was shoulder-to-shoulder with a Chippewa at the front at the midpoint of the race.

MSU runners finished sixth through ninth to place a total of five Spartan runners in the top 10. Ty Buckley placed sixth, clocking in at 15:24.90. Brenden Allen, Justin Ferraro and Zacary Wright-Fisher placed sixth through ninth, respectively, finishing within three seconds of each other.

"I think we had some good things happen," Drenth said. "We had some things that maybe we got afraid or we didn't make a decision when it got hard, but that's just part of the growing up process. For a lot of those people, it's the last time they're going to run a short race, so they're going to a longer race. They have to learn to make decisions."

The race today marked the last time both teams will run at the shorter 5k distance before the men transition to 8,000 meters and the women go to 6,000 meters for the season.

Running unattached, Josh Smith won the men's race, clocking in with a time of 15:08.54. Also, running unattached, Jeremy Kloss placed second with a time of 15:12.90.

On the women's side running unattached, Jillian Lange and Elizabeth Dalrymple placed third (17:58.52) and eighth (18:28.65).

UP NEXT: Michigan State will host the Spartan Invitational on Friday, Sept. 13 in East Lansing, Michigan.

Spartan Cross Country Sweeps Jeff Drenth Memorial to Begin the 2019 Season

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Players Mentioned

Brenden Allen

Ty Buckley

Elizabeth Dalrymple

Claire Kendell

Jeremy Kloss

Jillian Lange

Makayla Perez

John Petruno

Zacary Wright-Fisher